Community Moving OnChapter 11
- 4 years ago
- 19
- 0
Dan 1.0’s turn:
Early in the morning. My first cup of ‘office coffee’ is half done. Phone buzzed. I punched the button. “Yes, Lanie...”
“A MIssus Barton on the phone asking for you or Cindy. You’re here...”
“Thank you, Lanie.” Lanie’s been with us a couple of years now, from part-time help/Beck’s intern to one of Beck’s crew. She multi-tasks from the front desk, fielding phone calls while she takes care of billing.
“Good morning. This is Dan Richards. How can I help you?”
“Mister Richards,” the female voice said with a quiver, “My Ray used to fly into your field on weekends...”
Ah-ha! ‘Barton’. Mister Barton with his happy old Aeronca. Hadn’t seen him in a couple of months. “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “We miss ‘im.”
“He always came back home from those things with a smile on his face. Mister Richards, he’s not doin’ good. He asked if I’d call you...”
“Yes, ma’am. Anything we can do...”
“Sir...”
“Mizz Barton, I’m just Dan. He was always Mister Barton, though.”
“He’s stuck in bed. I’m afraid he’s down for good. Cancer. He asked me to call you. Said he’d love to see y’all again. Said specifically to ask about Cindy and the Munchkins.”
“Can he have visitors?”
“We have him on home-care right now, Dan. Yes, that’s why he asked me to call. He’s sort of in and out of it, but he said he’d love to see his girls one more time...”
“Oh, gosh, Mizz Barton...”
“Hon, he’s eighty-one. He’s had a lot of good years, and I’ve been with ‘im for most of ‘em. I don’t like it, but it’s the way of us all. Please tell me you can visit.”
“Give me your address. We’ll be on the road...”
“Thank you, Dan.”
“Praying for you all, Mizz Barton.”
The phone clicked. I bowed my head for a quiet moment, then I punched up Cindy.
“Hey, babe!” my redhead chirped. “What’s up?”
“Mister Barton...”
“Oh no ... We haven’t seen in him the last few weekends...”
“Found out why. He’s ... bad way. His wife called us. He asked if you and the Munchkins...”
“Visit?”
“Yeah.”
“Drive. I’ll borrow Tina’s Suburban.”
“Gather the Clan,” I said. “Warn ‘em. This might not be pleasant.”
“You know the Munchkins,” I said. “They’re up to it. Done properly.”
Thirty minutes later I replaced Cindy as the driver of Tina’s big ‘Mom-mobile’. In the back were Vicki, Rachel and the pTerridactyl. We hit the road headed for the western edge of Georgia, the GPS providing directions.
They talked about Mister Barton, the common thread being that every one of them had multiple sorties as bombardier for our weekend flour-bombing contests and as ballast on the spot-landing contests.
Cindy had checked out in the Aeronca, adding to the repertoire in her expanding logbook and had put her buddy Mister Barton into the cockpit of her Stearman on one of his last visits.
Good friend to us all. Now it’s time for...
He was lucid when we got there.
Mizz Barton met us at the door. “I told ‘im y’all were coming. He said he was gonna hold off on the pain meds so he could talk with you.”
He got a handshake from me, kisses from Cindy and the Munchkin girls.
Soft words. I mean, what do you say? He talked about enjoying our company, we talked about enjoying his.
“Patty,” he said to his wife, “I need our lawyer to come by tomorrow. Cindy, there’s something I wanna do.”
“What’s that, Mister Barton?”
“I wanna give y’all my ol’ Air-knocker. (Auth. Note: ‘Air-knocker’ is the jocular derivative of ‘Aeronca’, itself a derivative of Aeronautical Corporation of America)
“Oh, Mister Bart...” Cindy said.
“Look, y’all,” he told us. “Y’all fly like we used to fly – more’n work. Y’all love it like I do. My sons’d sell that ol’ girl and Lord only knows what’d become of ‘er. I know that if I give ‘er to y’all, you’ll drag ‘er out in the sun an’ put in the air fer as long as she sticks together. She’s made seventy-odd years already, and I know y’all’ll keep ‘er going another seventy...”
“We will,” Cindy said. “You can bet on it...”
He coughed a chuckle. “Redhead,” he said, “I want you to win the spot-landing contest with ‘er. You allus beat me by a smidge...”
“We had fun, Mister Barton. All the time. So much fun.”
He winced. “Patty. Gonna need those stupid pills, baby ... Y’all, this knocks me out. I’m gonna have my lawyer do the transfer. He’ll send you stuff...”
“Mister Barton,” I said, “we truly appreciate the gift.”
“I’ll do my first solo in it when I get my student license,” Terri said.
“All of us,” Rachel added. “You’ve been our grandpa...”
“Thank you, sweetie. See, Patty? These’ve been my Alabama girls...”
She gave him the pills he asked for. We slid silently away as he dozed off.
Mizz Patty saw us to the door.
“Mizz Patty,” Cindy said, “if his giving us that plane’s gonna cause heartache...”
“Darlin’,” she said. “That old man’s been my husband for sixty years. I will do what he wishes and I know how he used to laugh about meeting with y’all. Consider it done.”
“Let us know...” I said.
“I will. Week. Maybe two...”
Back in the car, sad drive home. Cindy’s thinking. That, for the past seven years, has always been good for some interesting diversions.
“We put that old girl in a hangar, give Wally a blank check. I don’t want one of those primped show birds, but inspect and repair everything.”
“We do that AFTER we do an overflight for his funeral,” Terri said. “Sort of like...”
Cindy squealed. “God, yes! Perfect, Terri! Dan, we need to talk with Mizz Patty and see if she’ll buy into it, but I have a PLAN.”
“Bet I know,” Terri said. “Like the military does...”
“Wally says that Mister Barton was his mentor in ag aviation, so...”
“The way it should be,” Terri inserted. “Stearman. Air tractor...”
“TWO Stearmans,” Cindy said. “Wally’s big Air Tractor. Empty, that thing CLIMBS!”
Cindy got on her phone. “Hi, Haley!” Pause. “No, not the happiest of times.” She explained how our day was stacking up. “I hate to ask you this, but could you get your Stearman back here for a special mission?” Pause. “I knew you’d understand.” Pause. “Yes. First good day...”
Eight days later the inevitable happened. 3Sigma sent a huge flower arrangement, Cindy and I added our own.
We trekked a few cars over for the memorial service, but I, Wally, Cindy, Nikki, they found alternative transportation.
Word got out. When we got to the little country airfield that was home to Mister Barton’s flying life, there were, in addition to our two Stearmans and Wally’s Air Tractor, four more Air Tractors and a Grumman Ag-Cat.
I let Cindy and Wally do the flight briefing.
Wally said, “We’ve been practicing our vee formation for a week. We’ll lead...”
The Ag-Cat pilot said, “Wally, you know I only got three thousand hours of military time. You reckon I can add my Cat to your vee. Give us a proper ‘finger-four’?”
“DO it, Winton. DIdn’t want to impose...”
“Hell, boy! It’s Mister Barton. He’s daddy to ever’one in this bunch...”
One of Dan’s cameras was running on the ground at the graveside service. The quiet of the service was broken by the clatter of that old Aeronca flying over, evocative of Mister Bart’s lifelong love. It passed over, headed off, then an increasing roar from the east as the friends showed up.
In the front was the finger-four, Wally’s almost empty Air Tractor in the lead, two Stearmans and an Ag-Cat biplane arrayed beside him, then a loose cluster of planes.
Over the gravesite at a thousand feet, Wally rammed his power lever forward, pulled the nose of the Tractor skyward, clawing for the heavens.
Yes, when the Air Force does it, an F-15 can ACCELERATE while going vertical. We did the best we could with the tools of Mister Barton’s life...
I was in the western bunch’s Stearman, Cindy in ours. I mouthed a prayer for the soul of our departed friend as we headed back to the airfield.
Nikki was already there with the Aeronca. Tina showed up with her Suburban and the camera.
We set up a monitor in the open hangar, gathered the participants, showed them the video.
“We have some video editing software and a couple of people who can make it sing. This is hi-res raw video. When Sheldon and Megan get done with it, you’ll think we had Hollywood filming this,” Tina said. “I’m putting a table right here. Names and contact info. Email and that kind of thing. Or business cards. I’ll get you the finished version.”
“Folks, before we go ... we missed the graveside service. This is a special place for Mister Barton. Can we have a little moment for him?” Alan asked.
“I’ll lead, if you don’t mind,” a pilot from Mississippi said.
Heads nodded, then bowed. “Lord, we’re your children. We know we stray at times, but we’re still your children and we ask your grace on our brother who is with you now. And accept our confessions and protect us and those we love. In Jesus’ name ... Amen.”
“Amen,” the crowd repeated.
We exchanged departing wishes, handshakes, invitations, and the crowd started breaking up. The first of the Air Tractors soon roared off the ... taxi-way ... Ag pilots on uncontrolled airfields.
Cindy watched. Smiled. “Everything’s a runway with an Air Tractor...”
Wally saw it, too. “Can you imagine if the FAA had done ramp checks today?”
“Hrrr-hrrr,” a big ol’ Alabama pilot chuckled. “We’d’a had us a hangin’.”
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Dan Granger's turn: I have to laugh. I tried very hard NOT to burn bridges when I left my old job. It paid off. Steve called. "Hey, Steve, what's up?" "You ready to come back?" "Not funny, Steve." "Seriously. One of our clients specifically asked if we'd subcontract you so you can come in and do some stuff for him." "What and when?" Steve gave me the run-down. I wasn't too surprised. Big facility. I'd done a similar scope for part of it prior to moving to Alabama. Now...
The World According to Susan: I am officially ready for a break. It's almost Christmas. I almost hide when I see my math professor. That's okay, though. He almost hides when he sees Cindy. Jason's right there with me, though. He's tested out of some classes and he's gotten transferred credits for a lot of things he took for his technology degree and if he does a summer semester next summer, he just MIGHT squeeze his way onto stage with the rest of us. I hoping. He deserves it. We work...
Cindy's Turn: I finished, well, actually WE finished a Skype session with Kara. This time it was me and Nikki and Kara. I turned to Nikki. "She's a sister, you know. Should be part of the Community," Nikki said. I'm glad Nikki said it first. I don't want everybody to think I'm running this show. I'm certainly not malicious or anything, but everybody contributes in this effort. "How do we make it happen?" I asked. "She's music, not engineering." "We had Mizz Patel handling...
Bill Carmody's turn: Interesting turn of events, I think. Two years ago I had Dan Richards on my power plant project. I knew him and Alan Addison from a previous power plant project where we were engineers, all three of us, on the same project. They're technically beyond reproach. Now I'm on THEIR payroll. 'Their' is, of course, 3Sigma Engineering. We're redoing several rural substations in Georgia. I ride herd on contractors, mainly, and make sure that they adhere to plans, and I...
Beck’s turn: First thing I did when we got home is call Mom. “Hello, my lost daughter,” Mom said, using her best ‘poor me’ voice. “Did somebody go into the hospital? It is not yet Saturday.” “Mom, your GRAD-daughter...” ““GRAND daughter,” Mom corrected. “My grand-daughter the millionaire...” “Your grand-daughter the research scientist...” “What has become of her now?” “She’s holding a letter in her hands that says she’s graduated college with a degree in engineering.” “My...
Susan's turn: I'm waiting for the aliens to show up. Here's how I figure it will break down. Nikki and Cindy will work with Terri and Rachel on the Star Wars squirrel denial system. They'll actually GET that 95 gigahertz transmitter, and in the process of modulating its output so that it only severely annoys squirrels instead of cooking them on the spot out there in the yard, they'll transmit a signal into space where it will be picked up by an alien spacecraft. The aliens will come...
Bill Carmody’s turn: Yesterday’s wedding was a delight, especially watching my NEW daughter (!) and Cindy, my original daughter, looking and acting very much like twins. Can’t help but grin, just thinking about it. Both of ‘em have a little fire in their eyes, and when they’re together, you can nearly SEE the sparks flying between them. Couldn’t have asked for a more unlikely development, right up to matching green dresses they bought together for the wedding. And my phone buzzes --...
Tina's turn: "What's so funny?" my husband asked. "Stoney and Jo are coming back and they're still flyin' that Pitts." "Did they buy it?" "She says 'no', but two trips, you gotta wonder." I giggled. I know the real reason. A combination of scheduling conflicts and weather had kept us from holding the weekend airport social and landing contest. The social, however, now had a few outside participants. I mean, it was bound to happen. We don't exist in a vacuum. On any given...
Cindy’s turn: 0700 for a wake-up. The alarm caught me when it went off. Sometimes I’m drifting between sleep and awake, but not this morning. I finally got to sleep, found out that Dana’s a kicker, so I kicked back. When the alarm went off, I let it roll for a bit, listening to the whines and other sounds of the gang waking up. I killed it, turned to get out of bed, but was a bit slow. I saw a T-shirted Rachel flash by muttering “bathroom...” Well, at least with two rooms we can split the...
Tina's turn: I keep telling myself that Bot-bot is not a real pet. I only wish I knew what was going on in my little girl's mind. Parse that statement, won't you? I have a stepdaughter who's ten years younger than me, who is probably past me in some ways, academically speaking. I know she does things with technology that all of us in the community wonder about. What went on in her head that caused her to take a mobile squirrel repeller platform and convert it into a pet? Yeah, I know,...
Tim's turn: I'd be a janitor for 3Sigma after seeing how Vicki and Kim fit in here. I'm THAT happy. That whole 'divorced dad' thing is horrible. I mean, you talk with your daughter on the phone once or twice a week, trying to stay up with what's going on in her life, and then you get a week or so for Thanksgiving or Christmas and you get a few weeks in the summer. A week was BAD. I don't know little girls. Until this past year, I didn't have my own place, so we cribbed up at Mom and...
Donna's turn: Do you know how to bring on pure pandemonium in my daughter's little community? Let me tell you. Saturday nights are the big night for music. Everybody's usually there. Well, sometimes we add Stoney and Johanna, sometimes Jason and Susan are off visiting one set of impending grandparents or the other. This particular weekend, though, we're all together. Me and Bill, we have our own swing there. So we laugh and sing and dance and then there's a break and my Bill stands...
Terri's turn: I really DO love my mom. I'm speaking of my natural mom, the person who carried me for nine months, then gave birth to me. I did not and still do not understand why she left Dad for Mister Martin. I know both men and there's no comparison. Tina tells me that there are things that go on in people's hearts and heads that are not easily defined. Defined. If you define 'step-mom', it means the woman who marries your dad. That's Tina. Dictionary definitions are so...
Nikki's Turn: Mommyhood hangs over us all. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way disparaging FOUR new mommies. Let's run down the list. Susan 'n' Jason have little JW – Jason Wallace, named after him and his dad. Alan and Tina have Katherine Genevieve – after nobody in particular, but Terri is forbidden to call her Kathygen. Johanna and Stoney have Randall Stonewall, and Mister Bill and Mizz Donna have Cindy's half-sister Elise Ann, a whole two days old. I'm likely to be the next. My...
Still Nikki’s turn: I squeezed Dan’s fingers. “A bit of bad luck, this,” I said. “Baby, be so kind as to hand me my iPhone. I need to get the news out.” Dana’s turn: We’re a pretty connected group here. I mean, everybody’s always texting and posting updates during the day, so when I got one from Nikki, I knew where she was supposed to be – on campus with the munchkins. I thought I’d see another ‘you won’t believe what Terri (or Rachel or Vicki) just did’ post. It wasn’t. I’m at the...
Derek’s turn: This is trouble. Wonderful, happy, delightful, ecstatically wonderful. But trouble. I knew what was going to happen when Rachel called me to help her feed Dana’s cat. Empty apartment except for me and Rachel and the cat, and the cat gets petted while I’m sitting next to Rachel and the cat leaves and Rachel turns to me. I like kissing her. I like holding her. We talk about everything. Tara says we’re too young to have a past, but I’ve lived through a car wreck and the loss of...
Cindy’s turn: It was just another morning in the office when the phone rang and as Maddie was occupied, I answered it. “3Sigma, this is Cindy. May I help you?” “Cindy? Good, it’s you I wanted to talk to.” “Hello Mizz Patel. What’s going on today?” “Would you mind if I drive out to your office? I’d like to talk about something in private.” I noted that she didn’t have her normal happy lilt. “Of course it’s okay. You’re always welcome here.” This was unusual for her though, so I added,...